The Bits and Pieces
"KILL, KILL, KILL…"
Various machines said in unison their voices growing louder at every second, all of them closing in on their target a group of androids who were desperately trying to make themselves look small as the machines stared blankly at their desperate eyes showing no mercy for what they were about to do, or what they would do, before…
Slash.
Slash.
Slash.
As if it were the wind itself their helpless heads scattered no more saying those terrifying words, in their position was a man, black and white swords in his hands as he moved forward towards an impossible amount of enemies. This battle only took a minute…
(Shirou)
He stood there quietly sitting a good distance from the terrified victims of the machines, the twins were trying to calm them down to see if any were injured, a lot of them were looking his way, their eyes showing gratitude but also worry and even worship.
"They're fine, well as fine as they can be a bit shook up though." Popola said closing in on the distance between the group and himself, he still looked towards a terrified man as he sat still in the same position not moving an inch, noticing this Popola sighed "There's not much we can do now Shirou."
"I know." The man said getting up as the other woman of their little group was closing in therefore it was time to move on and see if anyone needed help elsewhere.
Popola noticed his eyes and gave out a worried look "Shirou we've been running around for days now, this isn't good for you, we need to rest."
Shirou looked at her with exasperation "I can't I already told you, machines are being more and more proactive in their attacks by the day if I stop it means someone somewhere wasn't saved." he said pointing towards the other androids.
It was the truth for the past week the androids seemed to have run rampant in the city, he didn't know what happened they had seemed almost docile when he started living here only attacking if you got close, but now they were looking for people to attack... no it was more than that, they were desperately killing whatever they came into contact with.
Devola finally came around to them, she looked at her sister with a rather worried look before sighing and relaying a message to Shirou "They said two of their group were missing their whereabouts should be near the bridge."
The man nodded and started to turn towards that general direction before someone grabbed his sleeve.
It was the same woman who he had saved some time ago and the woman who asked to accompany him, the first one he had spoken to in this dead world "Please Shirou you're running yourself dead, I just…" Popola took a deep breath before continuing "We've seen Yorha units running around let them do their job and please take a rest."
"Will they be fast enough?" he asked without turning to her "I have to do this Popola."
She let go of his sleeve as her sister joined him casting a look of sympathy towards her, she stood there a second watching him go "Why are you.." she shook her head and took off rejoining the group.
(Bridge)
"HELP, PLEASE SOMEONE." A woman was running around yelling her eyes showed nothing but terror and desperation.
She noticed a small group closing, their colors were vivid red but very much in android shape, she didn't think twice towards running to them.
"Please you have to help me, they took…" she stopped before reaching them, taking a deep breath calming herself down so that she could tell them exactly what she needed, one of the women of the group took a step towards her putting her arms on her shoulders "They took my partner, we have trackers towards each other, so-so we always knew how to find each other I mean… please" she started rambling again.
Popola unlike her sister remained at Shirou's side "Shirou there's little to no chance he's still alive if the machines took him…" she said her words reaching the woman who started crying.
Shirou shook his head "Why would they take only one of them, the ones that kept themselves tracked, this isn't an attack or at least it isn't only an attack. They knew someone would try and save them both."
Popola put two and two together "You mean they are targeting you, that only gives it more reason for us to stop."
He shook his head "No that gives us more reason to look for him, it means there's a chance he's still alive." He looked to the woman who was being hugged by Devola "Give us whatever way you have of tracking him we'll do the rest."
"Thank you." she said she gave her tracker to Devola.
"Don't thank us yet." He had no way of knowing if they kept him alive but it was worth a shot. "Devola do you know where they are keeping him."
She fiddled with the tracker for a bit before answering "Near the desert, on the ruins of an apartment complex."
"Alright let's do this quickly." the three of them took off at high speed, intending of reaching said spot as quickly as possible.
On the back though Popola continued to mule over Shirou's present situation, the man was trying to do too much at once not really caring for himself nor how they, SHE felt, when she saw the human slowly get worse.
She was worried over his state, at some point he would start making mistakes if he continued like this.
Soon enough they had reached the desert, their pace slowing down the longer they had to run, Shirou's mind started running a mile with what he would have to face soon enough, if it were true that this was for him he would have to be prepared for anything until now no machine had posed a threat, but with how rapidly they seemed to evolve he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to keep up.
Before they could enter the cave to reach that apartment complex, machines jumped from below the sand their numbers greater than he had seen until now, all of them holding various weapons of different shapes and sizes just like the machines themselves.
"An ambush huh, so they are learning." Shirou turned his head and surveying the situation he was surrounded he thought, his hands starting to grasp his twin blades again.
"Damn." The sisters took their swords out, preparing for an attack before all of the machines shot out in unison attacking as one, even hitting each other in the desperation of killing the beings in front of them.
The sisters slashed and cleaved their way out of the attack, Shirou on the other hand was more preoccupied with the flying ones their attacks moving slowly but still something that could hit while they were fighting the various minions around them.
He focused his mind swords appearing around him as he willed them into existence, he looked towards the flying ones his swords shooting up at high speed killing them in a quick thrust, another machine noticing his lack of defense as he was focused on killing the almost alien-looking machines took his opportunity it's cleavers going down at rapid speed intended to kill him in one shot.
Shirou had noticed the attack and defended himself appropriately, immediately cutting the machine's midsection still the attack didn't fully stop as he dodged to his left one of the cleavers made contact with his left cheek. it was flesh deep not even something that would give out a scar more than a nick than anything else, but it was enough to draw blood.
Before long the disorganized nature of the attack made it so that they hurt themselves more than they were able to hit the three, they made quick work after the surprise of being surrounded by a few of the machines running away when they saw no way of victory.
"Fuck me, that was a bit close." Devola said putting her sword back in her scabbard "Glad we got out of this okay, what about you Po.. pola?" her sister was trembling slightly as she looked at Shirou.
"Aaah Shirou you're hurt." Popola said as her eyes focused on the blood on his face, she immediately grabbed her bag her whole being showing distress even going as far as dropping the bag as she was fumbling around in it.
"This?" Shirou said pointing towards his cheek "It's nothing it'll heal in a second." his words and voice were meant to give the woman reprieve but did anything but.
She quickly made her way to him, her eyes almost unfocused as she cleaned the blood off his face, showing nothing underneath "We shouldn't have come here."
Shirou sighed and grabbed her hand "Popola I'm fine, this is nothing but a flesh wound it barely grazed me."
She took her hand off, she was glaring at him now "You… YOU don't you understand how important your life is." she grabbed his shoulders desperate to make him understand how much he was worth "You are the last human on this planet, every android would gladly lie down and die for you, don't you understand how risky it is for you to be doing this." She shook her head "Don't you understand how much you matter to us... to me.. why do you go around helping everyone not even thinking about yourself, don't you know how hard it is for us to have to watch over you."
"Popola I…" Shirou started before getting interrupted.
"Why do you have to keep everyone safe but yourself Shirou." Popola looked into his eyes looking for an answer.
"Because this is…" he looked directly at Devola as he said his next line "What I was made for." before turning around and walking towards their objective.
Popola stood there not saying a word her eyes closing as she breathed rapidly, she heard her sister gasp behind her hearing her mutter something inaudible.
"Shirou you too…"
She heard her sisters steps as she closed in patting her back "You can't keep him locked in safe forever Popola no matter how much you want to, our Shirou is a stubborn man that will follow his own wind, the only thing we can really do is make sure that wind doesn't stop until it reaches its destination."
Popola hugged herself and nodded as they started to walk towards their human.
They were able to reach him as he stood overseeing the ruined complex, his face showed no emotion but his eyes were focused on the destruction, he looked behind him as he heard them approaching, giving them a nod something that was reciprocated by the sisters.
"Is he in one of the houses?" Shirou asked.
"Yes, we better be prepared for an attack similar to the earlier one, if not greater." Devola said her voice turning serious.
"Don't worry this time it'll only take a second." His voice sounded so sure she couldn't help but agree.
"You two ready?" they nodded his face was unreadable but his eyes showed an anger that they didn't know he had. "Then let's finish this."
They jumped from the cliff before running towards their target, already he could see machines littering around the place, they were close to a hundred of them all their little eyes focusing on one being, Shirou.
As they closed in they noticed the android they were looking for near the swings one of his legs had been cut off, probably to take away his ability to run away but still alive. The machines started muttering in unison their voices turning louder and louder each step they took.
"Devil, Devil, DeEviILl…"
"KILL, KILL, KILL…"
They stopped just before they could reach the army of machines in front of them, the sisters looked ready but worried immediately taking their place in front of him glaring at any machine that would try to get close.
"Devil, huh?" Shirou chuckled slightly before smirking, the sisters turned their eyes away from the battlefield looking at the face of the one they protected, he was almost unrecognizable, his form gave away to almost arrogance as he gazed towards the ones that tried to kill them as if they were insects, they could feel the energy running around him, building up "That's right, focus only on me I'm your enemy."
His face turned serious again as everyone heard his voice "Trace on."
A large shadow seemed to appear above them taking away the light of even the rooftops of the buildings, behind Shirou was an impossible wall of steel they numbered in the hundreds as they hovered in the air the sisters dropping their swords in amazement.
"Trace bullet fire!" a literal rain of swords cascaded upon the lifeforms ripping them to shreds, just like he said, it had only taken a second.
He panted slightly before regaining his composure, he looked towards his partners in combat as their mouths still hadn't closed "We should make sure the guy is fine."
"Y-yeh sure." Popola said as she ran towards the downed android.
"You okay?" Devola asked as she noticed how much he was sweating and how his breathing was rapid.
"I'll be fine, I just need a second." Shirou said waving his hand to take away some of her worries.
She nodded as she looked towards her sister who was trying to see how badly injured the man was. "He'll live, we should take him back to his partner, he has the other tracker after all."
He grabbed his other arm in an attempt to help Popola carry his weight before being pushed away by Devola "Let us take him for a bit okay."
They started walking back to the city, not being attacked anymore they quickly found themselves back to the woman who had given them this quest. She had reached the earlier group they had saved as they made their way back to the resistance.
"Why don't you two go sit around, I'll make sure he gets back safely okay." Devola said but Shirou was about to protest before getting pushed by Popola to a nearby tree.
"Jeez, Shirou let us at least take some of your burdens okay." Popola said as she sat as well.
They sat there quietly as they watched Devola make her way to the group and the woman who started crying as she noticed her partner's injuries.
"Do I make you worry that much?" Shirou said out of nowhere.
Popola sighed "You already know you do." she huffed in annoyance "But you don't allow us to help you, all we do is stand back because you don't allow us to walk alongside you."
"I'm sorry." Shirou said scratching the back of his head "I didn't mean… I mean I'm not used to having someone watch over me, it's been very long."
"It hurts you know." she said as she grabbed his hand putting it near her chest "Right here when I watch you fight it's as if my chest is constricted almost like I can't breathe, funny right I don't even have a heart or lungs but I still feel like I could die watching you."
"Popola I…" he sounded surprised by her own admission.
"Shush… I'm talking." She looked back at the sky as she watched some birds flying around everything seemed so tranquil nothing like moments before "You are like a moth to a flame, and there's still so much I don't understand about you, more than anything though I want to walk alongside you, I want to be able to hold your burdens."
"I'm not easy to take care of."
He heard her giggle "I noticed, but still it's what makes me happy."
"I'll still follow my own dream Popola, even if that means running into danger, are you prepared for that." Shirou looked at her their eyes meeting once again.
She nodded and gave him a beautiful smile it almost made his heart stop "And I'll always be here to pick you up after the danger, now close your eyes for me."
"My eyes?"
She shook her head, her face gave out a pretty blush as her eyes turned shy "You talk too much, didn't I tell you to stay quiet, come on do as I say."
He closed his eyes as he felt her grabbing his head and pushing his body down, his head met something soft and warm, he opened his eyes back when he realized what was happening. His head was on Popola's lap as she gently patted his hair.
"Popola?" his face turned pink as well.
"Again? You really do talk too much" she laughed her voice sounding embarrassed "You had to do a lot these past few days, take a rest okay." she said quietly her voice entrancing as he rapidly closed his eyes and his breathing turned slower.
Popola sat there as she watched the human sleep not intending to move a spot even if the world were about to end. In her mind, only one thought was made apparent one that she started whispering to his ear.
"Even if you break…
...I promise you…
...I'll do my best to hold unto…
...The bits and pieces..."
Okay, okay before you ask how so quickly well... I couldn't get this chapter of my mind the whole day I had to write it, honestly speaking I don't know how good it is but fuck I needed to put it into a chapter and this seemed the best place in the story. It just kinda happened my mind was screaming at me to write this so yeh hope you like it.
There weren't any noble phantasms in the wall of steel as it were, and that won't really work on the stronger machines moving forward but for fodder, it's a good move.
Edit: The characterization of Shirou... hmmm well I want to make one thing clear this is how future shirou in this story will be until future development of course, this isn't a normal version of shirou this is one that went through hell and back watching humanity slowly died out as he could do nothing that's also the reason why I'm focusing so much on the sisters since all 3 feel like they failed humanity in a way, I understand if that isn't what people wanted or that i might be going too much into it but at the end I want a deeply broken group that will make each other better because to me that's what replicant was. I wanted to explain this much, because yes this isn't how shirou should be, but this is a shirou that went through a hell far bigger than what he did normally. The fact that i'm even doing this means i failed at properly explaining within the story but hopefully future chapters will make this one better.